Campus

Jewish Student Union votes to deny membership to J Street U

Berkeley Hillel, a center for Jewish life, hosts the Jewish Student Union's meetings. JSU denied J Street U's application for the second time Wednesday.
Nathaniel Solley/Staff
Berkeley Hillel, a center for Jewish life, hosts the Jewish Student Union's meetings. JSU denied J Street U's application for the second time Wednesday.

The campus Jewish Student Union voted Wednesday to deny membership to J Street U at Berkeley, a Jewish student political advocacy group on campus whose application to join the union was also denied two years ago after facing accusations of being anti-Israel. Read More…

Editorials

Toward a calmer campus

CAMPUS ISSUES: The Department of Education ruling offers a valuable look at campus climate and sets a calmer tone.

Over the last few years, many have leveled charges that UC Berkeley is a hostile environment for Jewish and politically pro-Israel students. In dismissing a July 2012 complaint filed against the campus originating with two former UC Berkeley students, the Department of Education concluded these charges are without merit and Read More…

Op-Eds

Palestinians deserve an open discussion

Forget Chancellor Birgeneau’s platitudes, we need open debate

As Students For Justice in Palestine activists and a Berkeley attorney working with the SJP and Cal alumni, we feel compelled to respond to the chancellor’s criticism of the recent ASUC vote to divest from companies that profit from Israel’s human rights violations in Palestine. The chancellor’s concern about the Read More…

The Soapbox

BDS

Some thoughts on divestment and the Berkeley Jewish community

The Discomfort Zone

Editor’s note: Noah Kulwin is a member of J Street U at UC Berkeley. As word broke yesterday that ASUC President Connor Landgraf would not veto SB 160,  the divestment bill targeting companies involved in Israeli human rights violations, which passed in the ASUC last week, I was not sure Read More…

Columns

Jason.Willick

After divestment

The Devil's Advocate

The ASUC Senate’s deeply misguided vote to divest UC funds from companies affiliated with the Israeli military is, in one sense, utterly irrelevant. Despite its best efforts, the coterie of far-left activists that dominates student politics rarely influences university policy — Chancellor Birgeneau helpfully reminded us that the regents’ investment portfolio will Read More…

Op-Eds

opinion.israel.ariel

Israel’s tolerance

Israel should be praised for its commitment to inclusion, not denigrated for its minor flaws

This week Tikvah: Students for Israel held our sixth annual Israel Peace and Diversity Week (IPD Week). As always, there was an array of informative lectures, exciting activities and educational events about the most vibrant democracy in the Middle East. Israel Peace and Diversity Week has special importance given the Read More…

City

protest.chris_yee

Demonstrators stage mock military checkpoint by Sather Gate

About 15 demonstrators staged a mock military checkpoint by Sather Gate Monday afternoon in protest of Israeli soldiers’ presence on a main West Bank city thoroughfare. The checkpoint, which was in place around 1 p.m. for about half an hour, was part of a larger series of demonstrations to raise Read More…

The Soapbox

Jerusalem

Ugly Americans

The Discomfort Zone

This past winter break, I went back to Israel. As I have lived there intermittently over the past few years, the trip served as a way to reconnect with family, friends and a place that has held many meaningful experiences for me. The trip was composed of a few families Read More…

Columns

hannah.web

On sacred spaces

Religiously Inclined

I recently watched the film “Kingdom of Heaven,” and I was struck by one of the final lines spoken by the character Saladin, a Muslim leader who battled to take over Jerusalem during the era of the Crusades. When questioned by Orlando Bloom’s character, Balian, a valiant defender of the Read More…